Kelbaholtz Peak, Carson Peak, Chemehuevi Peak

27-Jan-90

By: Maris Valkass

This exploratory was a repeat of the one that I led seven years ago, with the exception of Chemehuevi. The two peaks are south of Stepladder. You take the same Turtle Mountain Road turnoff of Highway 95, and instead of turning right to go to Stepladder, you continue where the road turns south and heads for some old miner's cabins. They are shown on the Turtle Mountain topo. Passenger cars can get there. You can still drive about one more mile further, and then you are directly in front of Kelbaholtz. The climb is enjoyable, with some fun route finding. The view is superb of the surrounding rugged and colorful landscape.

From Kelbaholtz, we headed directly south to Carson. It may look farther than it really is. You can ascend the peak from either left or right. The right side is easy, you go up the gully to the ridge and follow it left to the summit. The left side is more fun because you can get into 3rd class, and there is some route finding. We started at 9:00 and were back by 4:00

It is interesting to note that only two people had climbed these two peaks In the last seven years since I was there.

The area is very colorful with lot of jagged peaks. This could be fun for Thanksgiving when you could explore leisurely, and camp at the cabins. You could have dinner in the cabins.

Chemehuevi we climbed via the usual route up the left gully, and then right to the summit. We descended via one of the gullies just left of the summit. This was much faster, and also seemed a faster way to go up.